Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water. · Agitation of the mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation. · Herpes; tetter (“any of various pustular skin conditions”). · The worn sides of riverbanks, where ores or stones containing them accumulate after being washed down from higher ground, which thus indicate to miners the locality of veins of ore.
Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat. · To chafe or irritate; to worry. · To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple. · In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
From Middle English frēten (“to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy”), from Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”), from Proto-West Germanic *fraetan, from Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to consume, devour, eat up”), from Proto-Germanic *fra- (“for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward, toward”)) + *etaną (“to eat”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”)). The senses meaning “to chafe, rub” could also be due to sound-association with Anglo-Norman *freiter (modern dialectal French fretter), from Vulgar Latin *frictāre, frequentative of Latin fricāre, from fricō (“to chafe, rub”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”); compare Old French froter (modern French frotter). The chief difficulty is the lack of evidence of the Old French word. Cognates *Dutch vreten, fretten (“to devour, hog, wolf”) *Low German freten (“to eat up”) *German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”) *Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraitan, “to devour”) *Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”) *Danish fråse (“to gorge”)
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Root classification mention*h₁ed-ine-pro
- Inherited-form mentionfrētenenm · to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy
- Inherited-form mentionfretanang
- Inherited-form mention*fraetangmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*fraetanągem-pro
- Inherited-form mention*fra-gem-pro
- Derivation mention*pro-ine-pro
- Derivation mention*h₁ed-ine-pro
- Cognate mentionfretterfr
- Cognate mentionvretennl
- Cognate mentionfretennds
- Cognate mentionfressende
- Cognate mention𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽got
- Cognate mentionfrätasv
- Cognate mentionfråseda
This page abbreviates 7 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "root",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*h₁ed-"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "etymid",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "to worry"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "frēten",
"id": "to eat",
"t": "to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy"
},
"expansion": "Middle English frēten (“to eat (at), corrode, destroy, annoy”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ang",
"3": "fretan",
"4": "",
"5": "to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst"
},
"expansion": "Old English fretan (“to eat up, devour; to fret; to break, burst”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gmw-pro",
"3": "*fraetan"
},
"expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *fraetan"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*fraetaną",
"4": "",
"5": "to consume, devour, eat up"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *fraetaną (“to consume, devour, eat up”)"
},
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*fra-",
"4": "",
"5": "for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *fra- (“for-, prefix meaning ‘completely, fully’”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*pro-",
"4": "",
"5": "forward, toward"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *pro- (“forward, toward”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*h₁ed-",
"4": "",
"5": "to eat"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”)"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "xno",
"2": "*freiter"
},
"expansion": "Anglo-Norman *freiter"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "dialectal"
},
"expansion": "dialectal"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "fr",
"2": "fretter"
},
"expansion": "French fretter"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "la-vul",
"2": "*frictāre"
},
"expansion": "Vulgar Latin *frictāre"
},
{
"name": "glossary",
"args": {
"1": "frequentative"
},
"expansion": "frequentative"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "la",
"2": "fricāre"
},
"expansion": "Latin fricāre"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "ine-pro",
"2": "*bʰreyH-",
"3": "",
"4": "to cut"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- (“to cut”)"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "fro",
"2": "froter"
},
"expansion": "Old French froter"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "fr",
"2": "frotter"
},
"expansion": "French frotter"
},
{
"name": "sup",
"args": {
"1": "4"
},
"expansion": "⁴"
},
{
"name": "col-top",
"args": {
"1": "2",
"2": "cog"
},
"expansion": "Cognates"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "vreten"
},
"expansion": "Dutch vreten"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nds",
"2": "freten",
"3": "",
"4": "to eat up"
},
"expansion": "Low German freten (“to eat up”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "fressen",
"3": "",
"4": "to devour, gobble up, guzzle"
},
"expansion": "German fressen (“to devour, gobble up, guzzle”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "got",
"2": "𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽",
"3": "",
"4": "to devour"
},
"expansion": "Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraitan, “to devour”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "fräta",
"3": "",
"4": "to eat away, corrode, fret"
},
"expansion": "Swedish fräta (“to eat away, corrode, fret”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "fråse",
"3": "",
"4": "to gorge"
},
"expansion": "Danish fråse (“to gorge”)"
}
],
"links": [
[
"frēten",
"freten#Middle_English:_to_eat"
],
[
"fretan",
"fretan#Old_English"
],
[
"*fraetan",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/fraetan"
],
[
"*fraetaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/fraetaną"
],
[
"*fra-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/fra-"
],
[
"*pro-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/pro-"
],
[
"*etaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/etaną"
],
[
"*h₁ed-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₁ed-"
],
[
"*freiter",
"Reconstruction:Old French/freiter"
],
[
"fretter",
"fretter#French"
],
[
"*frictāre",
"Reconstruction:Latin/frictare"
],
[
"fricāre",
"fricare#Latin"
],
[
"fricō",
"frico#Latin"
],
[
"*bʰreyH-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/bʰreyH-"
],
[
"froter",
"froter#Old_French"
],
[
"frotter",
"frotter#French"
],
[
"vreten",
"vreten#Dutch"
],
[
"fretten",
"fretten#Dutch"
],
[
"freten",
"freten#Low_German"
],
[
"fressen",
"fressen#German"
],
[
"𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽",
"𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽#Gothic"
],
[
"fräta",
"fräta#Swedish"
],
[
"fråse",
"fråse#Danish"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"Agitation of the surface of a fluid by fermentation or some other cause; a rippling on the surface of water.",
"Agitation of the mind marked by complaint and impatience; disturbance of temper; irritation.",
"Herpes; tetter (“any of various pustular skin conditions”).",
"The worn sides of riverbanks, where ores or stones containing them accumulate after being washed down from higher ground, which thus indicate to miners the locality of veins of ore."
],
"tags": [
"in-plural"
],
"recordId": "7da424a7f281af347662b55ff440c04016416a0c1852ea579d7d711eb419c794",
"rawRecordSha256": "0310372e9ab45f8aeaf53066673144445e46f2334a08e7f5013a51ecf2b34923",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 236693
},
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"Especially when describing animals: to consume, devour, or eat.",
"To chafe or irritate; to worry.",
"To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.",
"In the form fret out: to squander, to waste."
],
"tags": [
"obsolete",
"poetic",
"transitive"
],
"recordId": "9daed7619007e32f45ae24c9acc3aa16309981d1943037b26b414c9e137126f2",
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"sourceRecordOrdinal": 236692
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 7,
"glosses": 0
}
}